OTHER STUFF

September 29, 2010

I used Keepstream.com to curate the 'meatiest' tweets from Shop.org Summit 2010, which just ended today. It was another great show. Over 3,000 attendees! Social, mobile, and local are still hot themes as they were last year...because few retailers have figured them out. I led a couple roundtables on social commerce and social media ROI. However, other discussions around the show suggest there's a lot of money to be made getting the basics right...email, SEO, SEM, content, testing/targeting, and customer service.

September 22, 2010

I've been in digital marketing and ecommerce my entire career. As such, I recognize that online marketing is about balancing the creative with the analytical. In the case of my Dell career (managing Dell.com) it was heavily analytical. That's what I love about online direct marketing, you can justify investment and grow a business through learning what works and what doesn't.

Here's the problem though. The cycle of learning what works, of failing fast, of cycling through tests to optimize online return is too slow. Some of this is cultural, but it is also because tools are clumsy. Until now.

A few months ago I saw a demo of Monetate. I was blown away, and I've been in this business a long time. I pursued the board and CEO of Monetate to get involved, because I am truly excited about what they have and where they're going. I think they're a hidden secret in ecommerce, and the smartest marketers I know are using them at QVC and Urban Outfitters. Sorry Alex and Dmitri to let your secret out!

Here's what they do in a nutshell. First, here's what you have to do. Put one line of javascript code on your site (much like you've already done with Coremetrics or Google Analytics). That's it. What they do is everything else. You can literally change or rewrite any part of any page. Image overlays, ratings, functionality, banners, pricing, etc. They provide expertise to run different tests and segmentations. You want to change a banner on your site based on people experiencing sunny weather right now? You want to add functionality that IT is taking too long to implement? You want to trial 10 of the features you plan for your site redesign? Done, Done, Done.

As you can see, I'm excited about this company. I'm joining their board and hoping to see the ecommerce world beat a path to their door. As CMOs and VPs of ecommerce struggle for resources and attention in a multi-channel world, I truly believe an elegant capability like Monetate to test, target, segment, personalize and merchandise, and analyze is the key to online growth and culture change. In essence, it turns web site managers, content manager, web producers, and merchandisers into "margin makers", democratizing the P&L impact any individual can make.

Philadelphia, PA / September 22, 2010 – Monetate, the leading independent provider of testing, targeting, and personalization for websites, today announced it has appointed Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer of Bazaarvoice and former Dell marketing executive, to the company’s Board of Directors. Sam brings more than 17 years of industry leadership in digital marketing, social commerce, and start-up growth experience to Monetate, including an unparalleled ability to precisely identify the evolving needs of marketers and innovate measurable, high-impact solutions to emerging challenges.

“We are delighted to gain the expertise and guidance of a visionary eCommerce expert of Sam’s stature,” said David Brussin, Founder and CEO of Monetate (www.monetate.com).

Added Brussin, “Sam brings enormous experience in building companies that have become market leaders, most recently playing a key role in Bazaarvoice’s spectacular growth to over 950 clients worldwide. He also stands apart for having a unique vision and platform, as a blogger, an author and the architect of categories like social commerce that have come to dominate the online landscape. His expertise will be invaluable to Monetate as we expand to serve our rapidly growing customer base.”

Sam Decker is a recognized expert in eCommerce, word of mouth marketing, and direct marketing. As founding Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice, Sam helped build the core platform of Bazaarvoice products and led the company’s marketing efforts resulting in them becoming the category leader in Social Commerce.

Before joining Bazaarvoice, Sam spent seven years of leadership at Dell, Inc. in marketing, eBusiness, CRM, and customer-centricity. From 1999-2003, he led Dell’s consumer website, building Dell.com into the largest consumer eCommerce site at $3.5B in annual sales, and established global best practices in merchandising, analytics, product management, and operations. Later he directed marketing for Dell’s $1B+ installed-based marketing division, responsible for eBusiness, marketing communications and brand management.

Sam is a frequent speaker at marketing and eCommerce events and author of an award-winning marketing blog (www.deckermarketing.com) and a bi-weekly ClickZ column on social commerce (http://bit.ly/SDClickZ). Sam has authored two books on word-of-mouth and guerrilla marketing. He serves on the board of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and the board of advisors for the Web Analytics Association.

“Monetate has had an extraordinary amount of success for a young company, with clients such as QVC and Urban Outfitters.” said Decker. “They are one of the most exciting companies in eCommerce and digital marketing right now, with a full service solution that creates indisputable results for their clients. I am very excited to join the team as they reinvent testing, targeting and personalization that revolves entirely around the customer and their needs.”

About Monetate

Monetate is the leading independent provider of testing, targeting, and personalization for websites. Every day, major retailers like QVC and Urban Outfitters use Monetate to make the most of their online marketing dollars and optimize their website investments. Monetate helps marketers test product pitches and eCommerce site features, then accurately target messaging and personalized offers to specific audience segments, anywhere on the site, without using any internal IT resources. Based in Philadelphia and serving a growing list of Internet Retailer Top 500 companies, Monetate is a Coremetrics Partner, an eTail Preferred Solution Provider, and a member of Shop.org.

September 12, 2010

It's surprising how many web apps are out there that set out to accomplish growth and mistake activity for sustained progress. Perhaps they get some press but then lack traction. Why? Because they don't get the 'how' right.

It's a lot like producing a movie. You can get a great actor and pull off a movie, and there are thousands of B to D grade movies out there. Or, you can get a great actor with a fascinating story, smart script, talented director and sophisticated editor...it's the difference between a blockbuster or a straight-to-DVD production.

Dropbox should be studied -- in the way Google, Facebook and Craigslist are studied -- on how they've built their user interaction and design. I'll show you a few screens to show what I mean.

Their home screen is as simple as Google. For Dropbox, you either login or download, or watch a video to understand how it works. That's it. Less is more.

While a TechCrunch or Mashable article can spike signups for a web or phone app, sustainable growth is only possible if the app has high utility (where it 'infects' their life), convenience, and engagement. DropBox is brilliant in this screen. They very clearly outline steps they'd like you to take, and make the most prominent image a 'thermometer' infographic that reflects something you can earn, 250MB of storage space. That's a smart giveaway because it costs them practically nothing (assume most people don't even go up to 2GB), yet has high perceived value for first time users, and it reminds users they may want more storage space (teeing up an upgrade later). My only suggestion is they put a time limit to get that upgrade.

Every time I add the app to another computer, they know it's me, and they ask if I'm ready to upgrade. Very simple choice...showing me where I'm at now. When I install the app, that's a relevant contact point, because as I add it to other computers, ostensibly I've likely increased usage. I don't know if it's the case, but I'm sure upgrade messages will come as I approach 2GB.

This is great UI X smart business sense. If you're wondering if a great designer or user experience professional is worth the investment, just look at this example (and dropbox's traction) as evidence.

September 05, 2010

This is a summary of some of Guy Kawasaki's recent tweets that I like...but I'm really doing this to show off Keepstream's new application, which will be featured at Capital Factory Demo Day on Wednesday (disclosure: I'm a co-founder in CF and therefore an investor in Keepstream).

They are announcing a 48-hour free signup on Wednesday (9/8), but I have an inside scoop...you can sign up right now and still get in on the free signup.